Sorry for lurking all night, I just didn't want to log out :)

[ashburg]

Howdy!

Atash...saw you on MSNBC...yeah, you got some great exposure there.  So glad I saw that!

Anyway, great site, awesome idea in what you're sharing and bringing together here.  I can't wait to contribute.

My expertise is quite broad...master of nothing, but versed in just about everything 

I was an automotive mechanic in the 90's, then went to college for the duration, then worked in financial planning (insurance) for 10 years.  After 9/11, things went south with my niche in the business world.  When it all came to a head, I decided to start a groundskeeping service, which has done quite well (nobody knows how to prune camellias anymore).  I always say (now) that there is no replacement for hard work...now if I could only get someone else to do the work for me hehehe j/k

I have a cousin who has chickens - I laughed at first when he told me about it, but now, I'm wanting to do the same thing.  My challenge is getting the homeowner's association to approve "chicken rearing" in my large back yard hehe...we'll cross that bridge.  There are quite a few restrictions where "covenants" and "homeowner's associations" are concerned.  Wonder how that will pan out when the well runs dry at the grocery store...

I had a water well drilled in my back yard recently...actually it was a summer long endeavor.  I paid a company to do it.  I'll do a post on that later.

In summary, I too believe that as humans living in America, we need to get back to our roots.  I believe that the young men and women who strive to be "suits" nowadays are barking up the wrong tree.  I believe that God is the core, then family, then myself.  I believe in the earth and that we can still count on its resources if we SEW more.  We soon will see a surplus of labor...LEGAL labor.  **sorry to rant, my ADD is going in all directions hehe**

We have lost so much of the knowledge base that is survival...making bread, soap, potable water, hunting, gardening....bartering?!, staying warm or cool.  I look forward to re-learning all of these things and sharing what I know.

Thanks again for a wonderful resource    (now if I could only learn how to make beer)

peace,
ash

[opsec]

Welcome aboard. I'd like to know more about that well you drilled. What was the red tape involved? Do you have to have a meter on it?

The good news is that learning those "lost" skills of self-sufficiency isn't hard. The hardest part is anticipating all of the relevant material needs and obtaining them before the balloon goes up.

[ashburg]

Re: Well

Red Tape - The City had absolutely no issue with it...but they wouldn't issue me any statement to that effect in writing.  This led to a 3 month long battle with my homeowner's association; trying to convince them that the city "really had no issue with it"!  So..........I joined the homeowner's association board LOL.  Anyway, after some coaxing, I got it passed with 2 limitations:

The well is to be used for irrigation only, not for drinking, bathing, etc

I need to "house" the external components

That's it as far as red tape.

What took so long is getting the contractor out here to fit me into the schedule...evidently he's very very busy.

I did have a problem with the well - replenishment rate.  I only had a 1 gallon/minute well at first.  After coaxing, I got the contractor to drill a second 60foot deep "sand" well, just next to the initial 450 foot deep "rock" well.  They hooked the 2 wells together and voila - I've got 5 gpm at 80psi.  Its a veritable oasis back there.  And just as pure as you can get.

Cost - this very well could be one of the most backwards things I've ever done, but again, who knows...this whole thing cost me over 9 grand       

Lesson learned - if you hit 3.5-5gpm at 60 feet down, stop drilling.  It costs ~$10/FOOT to drill these things (plus pump, filters, resovoir, electrical hookup, etc).  Also, if you drill in one spot and hit -0- water, drill a few feet away and you might hit 5gpm...it runs in streams and you never know what you'll hit or where.

Dowsing is a way they can tell where the water streams are, but I don't believe in this.  I think its in their own head.  Holding a stick, a divining rod, they walk along until the stick bends.  But I know how they do this...it's a magic trick.  "If it doesn't work for you the first time (they say), then it'll never work for you".  If you want to know the trick, let me know...

Meter - no, no meter...you don't need a meter.  You don't need to keep up with how much water you pull out of the underground natural streams. 

ash

[Atash Hagmahani]

I have some documents regarding how to make beer. That goes into my wiki.

see my main website--which was down during the surge of hits:

www.mutuallyassuredsurvival.com

No article on home-brewing yet, but I bet there is someone here who could write one. We're trying to avoid encouraging people to make anything hard, but beer is OK and my technical consultant insisted we allow wine too because he's from wine-country.

Anyway, it should make use of extremely simple equipment, because anything fancy won't necessarily be available once the power goes out.

[opsec]

We're trying to avoid encouraging people to make anything hard, but beer is OK and my technical consultant insisted we allow wine too because he's from wine-country.

There goes my sweatsock gin.

[opsec]

Ashburg,
    That's the best $9K you ever spent. Consider a large water storage system too as wells can run dry or even get cut off suddenly do to earthquake activity. If you can afford nine thousand to get water, consider spending just another couple thousand to store it with a few of those large cisterns like they have on farms. Last time I looked, Tractor Supply Company had a 1500 gallon size for $500, but that's been a few years now. But if you had 3 or 4 of those in line with each other, that would keep you going for a good while. You don't think about it but you use water fast. Remember, you need the ones made of white plastic as that is food grade plastic, the yellow ones are septic tanks and are not made of food grade plastic. I think they also have black plastic water cisterns now too. If so the black ones would be better as it would keep out light and thus reduce algae growth. Of course you can prevent that with an appropriate amount of houshold bleach too.

[ashburg]

ok, Roger that. 

I did look into water collection and do plan to do something.  We had two bad droughts here in SC last year and one this year...

thanks!

[opsec]

If you route the water from the well to the first tank and then have all the tanks piped in series, you can maintain a constant flow of fresh water though all the tanks and avoid the problem of stagnation.

Have you tested the water for any kind of contamination? Nitrates might be a problem if you live in farm country. If you need a way to purify the water under primitive conditions, you can cheaply build a solar water distillery. You can find plans for those on the internet. Everything you need is at Home Depot.

[ashburg]

nope, haven't tested for contamination yet.  Like I say, right now its just for irrigation.

will test asap though

[opsec]

That's probably why they only want you to use it for irrigation only. They don't want any liability issues in case you get sick from the well water.